Nate Lowe (1B, TB) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 16% of Yahoo! leagues ANALYSIS: Rays first baseman/designated hitter Nate Lowe's overall numbers are solid, but are still being bogged down by his less than stellar big league start. Since July 4, when he was last recalled from Triple-A, Lowe is slashing .300/.397/.660 with five home runs […]

Justin Smoak (1B, TOR) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 31% of Yahoo! leagues ANALYSIS:  Justin Smoak started the year as a man on fire, but fell victim to a .291 wOBA in June. He’s been back up to a .331 since the ASB, including four home runs in his last ten games. He’s much better against […]

Kole Calhoun (OF, LAA) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 27% of Yahoo! leagues ANALYSIS:  Kole Calhoun posted a .312 wOBA over the first three months of the season. Since, he’s sporting a .418 wOBA and .342 ISO. He’s up to 23 home runs on the season and finally starting to match his peripherals with a .265 […]

Tyler Beede (SP, SFG) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 13% of leagues ANALYSIS: After putting together some positive starts on the strength of a newfound slider and following eight innings of shutout ball against the Mets, rookie Tyler Beede came crashing back to earth last Wednesday as the Chicago Cubs roughed him up for four runs in […]

Miguel Sano (1B/3B, MIN) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 33% of leagues ANALYSIS: Minnesota third baseman Miguel Sano had been slumping coming out of the All-Star break, but even after waking back up last week he still remains criminally under-owned at only 33%. Over this last week, Sano hit three more home runs, with eight RBI and four […]

Danny Duffy (SP, KC) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 9% of leagues ANALYSIS: Danny Duffy's numbers in total for the 2019 season may read a little humdrum at a 4.32 ERA and 1.36 WHIP in 89.2 IP across 16 starts for the bottom-dwelling Kansas City Royals, but they have mostly been marred by a poor start to […]

Vince Velasquez (SP/RP, PHI) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 8% of leagues ANALYSIS: There is still the chance that the Philadelphia Phillies make a move for a starting pitcher (probably a back-end rotation member), but if they decide to roll the dice with their current cast of characters in an attempt for the postseason, Vince Velasquez stands […]

Cal Quantrill (SP/RP, SD) - Week 18 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 6% of leagues ANALYSIS: He has jumped back a bit between rotation and bullpen action, but 24-year-old highly regarded arm Cal Quantrill has been absolutely shut-down for the San Diego Padres in recent outings. The former Stanford Cardinal has turned in a respectable body of work through his […]

Nick Anderson (RP, MIA) - Closer and Saves Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 6% of leagues ANALYSIS: If you're a hungry little saves vulture like me, you've been stashing Nick Anderson for a week already, in anticipation of a Sergio Romo trade. Anderson should be the closer in Miami now, though we'll have to wait for him to be used in […]

Closers and Saves Report - Week 17 Waiver Wire

The trade deadline is coming up on Wednesday, and...nothing has really happened yet. With so many teams in contention (and so many rebuilding teams unwilling to trade young players), many reporters are saying this has been the quietest build up to the trade deadline they can ever remember. This season, there is only one deadline […]

Digger Deeper: AL-Only Waiver Wire Report for Week 17

Every week in baseball, a significant player will hit the disabled list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to […]

Digging Deeper: NL-Only Waiver Report for Week 17

Every week in baseball, a significant player will hit the disabled list, slip into a slump, or get traded out of a good spot. How fantasy owners adapt to these situations can make or break the season as a whole. One lousy add might not hurt the long-term standing of a team, but failing to […]

Catcher Waiver Wire Pickups For Week 17

As we enter the second half of the season you may have already found a dependable catcher that you roll with week-in and week-out, but as we know, backstops are the most volatile position in fantasy baseball. With that being said, we should always be aware of the landscape of the position just in case […]

Danny Salazar (SP/RP, CLE) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 21% of Leagues ANALYSIS: October 9, 2017 was the last time we saw Cleveland Indians pitcher Danny Salazar in the major leagues. He spent the entirety of the 2018 season on the Disabled List and underwent surgery on his right, throwing shoulder in July of that year. […]

Chris Bassitt (SP, OAK) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 26% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Oakland Athletics starting pitcher Chris Bassitt has been a quietly consistent and reliable option as a starter just about all season. On the year, he's 7-4 with a 3.96 ERA and 1.23 WHIP with 83 strikeouts and 36 walks over 88.2 innings. Bassitt […]

Miguel Sano (1B/3B, MIN) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 29% of Leagues ANALYSIS: Minnesota Twins first baseman/third baseman Miguel Sano has been a steady source of power for the team since making his 2019 debut in mid-May. On the year, he has a .234/.328/.549 slash line with 14 home runs, 26 RBI and 33 runs scored. The strikeouts […]

1B and 3B Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 17

Another week has come and gone, and suddenly August is within view. Is it me, or has this season simply flown by? With the dog days looming, you can expect the waiver wire to be less of a bloodbath soon. Also-rans will lose interest as they turn their attention to fantasy football or enjoying what […]

2B and SS Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 17

The urgency is definitely picking up around baseball, and it tends to every year once the fun and fanfare of the All-Star break are in the rear-view mirror. You could smell the pungent aroma in the air over the past week. A few trades were completed, a few key players went down with injuries of […]

Alex Dickerson (OF, SF) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 10% of leagues ANALYSIS: Remember this guy? Alex Dickerson got a little deep-league love back in 2016 after putting up a .788 OPS, 10 homers, and five stolen bases in a half-season with the Padres. Then he fell off the face of the earth, missing the next two […]

Enrique Hernandez (1B/2B/SS/OF, LAD) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 26% of leagues ANALYSIS: On a less stacked team, Enrique Hernandez might be a consistent everyday player. As it is, he's had to settle for being a super-utility guy on the team that has captured the last two National League pennants. Rough life, eh? The 27-year-old is actually on […]

Cavan Biggio (2B/OF, TOR) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 31% of leagues ANALYSIS: Cavan Biggio could be doing better; the rookie is hitting just .217/.351/.375 thus far. That said, he's putting up solid counting stats, with a rough full-season pace of 20 homers, 20 stolen bases, and 150 R+BI. The 24-year-old has also been a bit unlucky based […]

Oscar Mercado (OF, CLE) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 35% of leagues ANALYSIS: I had Oscar Mercado ranked as the top waiver wire pickup this week before he went 5-for-5 with two runs, two RBI, and a stolen base on Friday. Even that explosion hasn't been enough to put him over the 35% cutoff, despite his excellent overall numbers. The […]

Bryan Reynolds (OF, PIT) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in All Leagues OWNED IN: 31% of leagues ANALYSIS: Maybe it's because he plays in Pittsburg, or maybe it's because he spells his first name with a "y", but Bryan Reynolds gets no respect and is still available in 70% of leagues. This in spite of the fact that if Reynolds qualified with 15 […]

Starting Pitcher Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 17

We're almost in August, which means that some owners will inevitably abandon their teams as they turn their attention to football season. This is, on balance, an unfortunate development - nobody should be that guy - but one benefit to those of us who follow through on our season-long commitment is that competition for waiver […]

Aaron Bummer (RP, CHW) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 6% of leagues ANALYSIS: There's a very realistic chance that the Chicago White Sox will find a way to trade their closer Alex Colome by the upcoming deadline, and if that happens, the ninth inning reigns will likely be handed down to thriving 25-year-old southpaw Aaron Bummer. Melancholic […]

Daniel Mengden (SP/RP, OAK) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 9% of leagues ANALYSIS: Daniel Mengden is still surprisingly young at 26, and we can all get behind a fantastic mustache, but the Texas A&M alumni has sported more than well-groomed facial hair on the mound in recent work. Through 47.0 IP for another season as an Oakland […]

Chase Anderson (SP, MIL) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 15% of leagues ANALYSIS: Chase Anderson has always flown under the radar, but despite one sub-par month of June for 2019 in which he had a 5.92 ERA and 1.32 WHIP in five starts, he is quietly en route to one of the finest campaigns of his career. […]

Daniel Hudson (RP, TOR) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 14+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 8% of leagues ANALYSIS: Daniel Hudson has long been a reliable fixture in major league bullpens around the league, but he has never amassed more than five saves in a single season (a feat he accomplished in 2016 with the Arizona Diamondbacks). Now, with a fantastic body of […]

Nate Lowe (1B, TB) - Week 17 Waiver Wire Pickups

BALLER MOVE: Add in 12+ Team Leagues OWNED IN: 32% of leagues ANALYSIS: In dealing with some recent injury issues, the Tampa Bay Rays have called on hulking, highly rated first base prospect Nate Lowe, with fantastic results. The 24-year-old former Mississippi State Bulldog has a time-tested track record of power-hitting at the professional level, and had […]